Club confirms Arsenal have made offer to sign 37-goal star

According to quotes by Sky Sports News, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has confirmed Arsenal have made a formal offer for Alexandre Lacazette but the striker won’t be going anywhere this summer.

Arsene Wenger needs to sign a world class striker as he tries to build a squad capable of sustaining a title challenge next season and Lacazette has emerged as our most realistic target.

Following reports that Wenger and Ivan Gazidis held talks with Aulas in France over a deal for the striker, The Sun reported that the Lyon chief flew over to London for further negotiations earlier this week.

The newspaper says Lyon are demanding around £60m for Lacazette’s signature while there have been suggestions that Olivier Giroud could be used as a make-weight in any deal.

Aulas has now been speaking to the French media today and he’s confirmed that Arsenal have made a ‘very nice’ offer for Lacazette after his proposed move to Altetico Madrid collapsed.

He’s quoted by Sky Sports News as saying:

“Alexandre Lacazette was told he could leave. We had negotiations with Atletico. Things did not work out. We now have a very nice offer from Arsenal. But for us he will not leave.”

Aulas saying they no longer want to sell is just all part of the transfer ‘game’ and I think he’d just trying to force Arsenal in to upping their offer closer to their valuation.

I’ve seen subsequent reports saying that Aulas is now denying mentioning Arsenal’s bid in his press conference today but I don’t see how these quotes have come from nothing so he’s just posturing.

For all the speculation linking us with Kylian Mbappe, I think Lacazette is the most likely striker target for us this summer and he recently did a u-turn on his previous claim that he’d only join a Champions League club.

Wenger is obviously a fan as we’ve tried to sign him on several occasions in the past so I think this will be the summer when we might finally get our hands on the 26-year-old.